On January 11, 2017, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi announced that China will be investing an additional USD 40 billion in Nigeria, on top of China’s USD 45 billion in existing investments in the country.

Asia watchers are anxiously awaiting US President-elect Donald Trump’s first actions after his inauguration, in particular whether he will carry out his threat of designating China as a currency manipulator. Such a designation will allow US to institute punitive tariffs on Chinese imports.

While the US economy is driven by multiple factors including innovation, business sophistication, market size, financial market development, labor market efficiency, and higher education and training, high tax rates and tax regulations remain the two most important downsides of doing business in US.

China’s debt level is increasing, along with toxic debts on its balance sheet. This situation can be compared to Taiwan and South Korea before the financial crisis hit in the 1990s. China may be able to use the same strategies adopted by them to overcome threats to its economy.

Since the 1980s, US business corporations have been restructuring employment relations and financial behavior. Many people lost their jobs and were forced to find jobs in new places. It is a fact that the benefits and costs of the restructuring have been distributed unequally.

Bloomberg reported in November 2016 that Chinese developers were spearheading the USD 100 billion Chinese-made city in Johor Bahru, a city at the southern tip of Malaysia and bordering Singapore, to turn it into the next Shenzhen.

An unprecedented stock rout in the summer of 2015 led to draconian anti-graft investigations into officials and executives in China’s financial sectors, with at least eight officials in the China Securities Regulatory Commission being detained.

The National Development and Reform Commission of China released its five-year plan (2016-20) for rural economic development in November 2016. In this plan, rising costs in agricultural production have been highlighted as a major challenge.

There has been some indication that the Trump administration wishes to shift the US’ disposition toward Chinese initiatives such as the One Belt One Road initiative. Many negative American perceptions of Chinese economic leadership, particularly of the OBOR, must first be addressed.